Lawn Herbicides End Up in House Dust

Do herbicides used on your lawn end up inside your house? There are only a few scientific studies that have tried to answer this question. A new study from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) adds to the evidence that herbicides used on lawns are tracked inside houses where they can persist for months or years.

Do
herbicides used on your lawn end up inside your house? There are only a
few scientific studies that have tried to answer this question. A new study
from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) adds to the evidence that herbicides
used on lawns are tracked inside houses where they can persist for months
or years.

How
was the study conducted?

Scientists
from NCI and 5 other medical research institutions across the country interviewed
randomly selected people in Detroit, Iowa, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Each
person who participated in the study answered questions about the pesticides
used in their home, yard, and garden. Each person also provided the researchers
with a used vacuum cleaner bag containing household dust. The researchers
then analyzed the dust for pesticides, and looked for associations between
the amount of pesticides in the dust and the pesticides used in and around
the home.

What
did the study find?

Use
of lawn care herbicides is common: about half of the people in this study
used them. The common lawn care herbicide 2,4-D was one of the pesticides
most frequently found in the dust samples and was one of the pesticides
found in the highest concentrations. People who used herbicides on their
lawns had higher levels of 2,4-D in dust from their homes than people who
didn't. There was also an association between 2,4-D levels in household
dust and the number of times lawn herbicides had been used; more lawn care
herbicide use meant higher levels in dust.